


Linking thread

by wilwarindi



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Character Study, Friendship, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, M/M, Non-Binary Molly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-27
Updated: 2018-02-27
Packaged: 2019-03-24 14:49:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13813446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wilwarindi/pseuds/wilwarindi
Summary: "But Molly partied. Right now, they and their group were big damn heroes and they'd saved the day. It felt good to have people think of them that way, for once. Soon enough, when they left this wrecked little nowhere of a town, they'd go back to being considered a freak by the rest of the world, so they were planning on enjoying it while it lasted.And yet… Molly’s attention kept snapping back to the quiet corner where Caleb was hiding. Caleb had been distant since they'd come back from the mines, and Mollymauk found themself keeping an eye on him."[Spoilers for ep. 7 'Hush']





	Linking thread

**Author's Note:**

> NB Molly (he/they pronouns)
> 
> So, hey! Welcome to my first ever CR fic. I personally blame Taliesin for this one. He knows what he did (and I love him for it).
> 
> Special thanks to CatrinaSL for beta-ing this chapter :D
> 
> Warnings: Alcohol use.

When they came back to Alfield, and they were hailed as the heroes they were, Mollymauk celebrated all night long. He drank and read fortunes, and he spun tales of the circus and their battle against the gnolls and the manticore — and most of them were actually true. Some of the town people flinched at the stories of the gnolls, a fact that would have amused them to no end on a regular day, but even Molly could forgive them the scruples when they considered most of these people had lost someone to the monsters.

But Molly partied, still confused about the new power on his swords, but no longer shaken. Wherever that was about, they'd figure it out eventually; right now, they and their group were big damn heroes and they'd saved the day. It felt good to have people think of them that way, for once. Soon enough, when they left this wrecked little nowhere of a town, they'd go back to being considered a freak by the rest of the world, so they were planning on enjoying it while it lasted.

And yet… Molly’s attention kept snapping back to the quiet corner where Caleb was hiding. Caleb had been distant since they'd come back from the mines, since whatever had happened to him back when the priest had died, and Mollymauk found themself keeping an eye on him.

Molly was still trying to figure out who these people were, the ones he'd found himself traveling with, and he couldn't say he held any special attachment to them. Yet the vacant expression on Caleb's face back in the mine had struck Molly hard, as had the relief when he’d heard Caleb talking after having slapped him hard on the face. They were surprised at the intensity of their own concern, but they could guess the reason well enough: Molly knew a thing or two about being rendered speechless.

It wasn't the same, though. At least, it didn't _seem_ to be the same, given the fact that Caleb could talk, meanwhile Mollymauk themself hadn't been able to utter any words for a long time — but it was still close enough to home to cause a reaction.

Molly wasn't one to ponder much about things, but he found himself wondering what had caused Caleb's numb state. They had a vague idea, but no particulars, and the particulars were what bothered them. They'd all seen death and killed before, and these creatures were clearly evil, so it couldn't be the shock of first taking a life. And it wasn't worry about Nott’s brush with death what had caused him to shut down either, because Caleb had seen her come back to consciousness and hadn't glanced in her direction until Molly's slap had snapped him out of it. It was something to do with the priest.

But if Caleb had snapped out of it, there wasn’t magic involved. Probably not. And if there wasn’t magic involved, then all the man needed was some time and space to sort himself out, and all any of them could do was give him said time and space. Surely, Caleb could manage that — he was smart. And if he couldn’t, then this life wasn’t cut out for him and he’d probably figure that out for himself sooner or later.

And yet… Molly kept looking over their shoulder, out the corner of their eye to where Caleb was: slunk into the shadows as he was bound to be, even if nothing had happened to him. Caleb always stood awkwardly at the fringes of groups and slipped away as soon as he could. It wasn't new.

Molly kept stealing glances every now and then, even if they tried not to do it, until they didn't see Caleb anymore. He'd probably had enough and gone to get some sleep, or at least some peace and quiet. Good on him.

Molly put it out of his mind and turned back to the fortune reading he was doing, just in time to see the mistrustful glare Beauregard was giving him from a few seats over. Molly grinned at her and shuffled the cards in her direction, and as expected she huffed, but still kept watching him intently during his reading — trying to catch him lying or something, probably. She was keeping an ear on his bullshit, which made him go a little overboard with his performance just to annoy her.

He didn't like Beau, and she didn't like him, and they had fun with it. Or, Molly had fun with it, at least. What was the point, anyway, if not having fun? If he hated her, he'd just turn away and leave on his own, but this little push and pull kept them entertained.

It wasn't until after he'd finished his reading and exchanged a few unimpressed and mocking glances with Beau, when they got up to get another drink, that Molly saw Nott sneaking around the edge of the party.

Molly sighed, annoyed, and followed her for a little bit, as subtly as they could, considering how much they'd had to drink so far. But judging by Nott’s occasionally wobbly steps, she'd also been drinking, and she didn't notice him approaching when Molly decided to pull her away as discreetly as he could.

“Hey!” Nott shrieked in alarm, trying to shake his grip on her shoulder and one hand going for her short sword.

Molly dug his fingers tighter. “Quiet. It's me.” When he decided they were far enough away, Molly spun Nott around roughly. “Don't steal from these people, alright?”

Nott blinked her big yellow eyes, startled. “What? No, I — Pfff, I don't know where you get that—that idea.”

She was a terrible liar, even when she was sober. She kept glancing around for an escape route, barely even blinking. Maybe Molly should try to coach her into sounding at least a little bit more believable, for her own sake.

“Nott…” Molly said, giving her a stern look.

Nott broke immediately. “Alright, so I was stealing!” she admitted, her voice loud and shaking. “But I didn't mean... I mean, I did! But I wasn't trying to — I just wanted to find something shiny. I know we have money now, but I can't help it.”

She looked at them, her eyes wide and her ears drooping, and she reminded them of the circus children. Molly wasn't easily swayed by puppy dog eyes, but he also knew her and knew she'd almost died today after doing the stupidest, most brave thing he'd ever seen anyone do (as far as he could reasonably remember, anyway), and so his disapproval relented a little.

“You don't steal from poor people,” Mollymauk said. They wouldn't usually bother to tell others what to do, but Nott… Nott was young, she still had things to learn. She could still change much more easily than any adult.

“Oh, I know. They never have anything to steal,” Nott said. That wasn't at all why Molly thought it was wrong, but he couldn't hold back a snort.  “I just wanted something shiny, not money.”

“What have you found?”

Nott hesitated, looking for a way out again.

“You can show me, or I can tell Beau. And Fjord.” Normally, Molly would have mentioned Caleb before anyone else, but right now they left him as a last resort. They didn’t want to drag him into this.

To be honest, Mollymauk wasn’t sure either Beau or Fjord would give a damn about Nott stealing anything. They certainly didn’t seem to have given a damn so far. But Beau’s temper and slightly hypocritical holier-than-thou attitude, and Fjord’s general decent disposition seemed like the best threat to hold over her right now. Besides, Molly would bet good money that Fjord was one of those people who looked disappointed, not angry, and that always had much better results than plain rage.

Either way, it worked. Nott gulped and gave in. “Alright.” She rummaged around her cloak and fished out a handful of objects and showed them to him between her cupped hands. It was mostly rubbish: there was a brass button, a metal spoon, a couple links of a broken chain, a piece of tin, a blackened belt buckle. There was also a ring that looked like a wedding band, which Molly plucked out of Nott’s hands before she could react.

“Hey!”

“No jewelry, Nott,” Molly said. “Nothing people would miss.”

“But…”

“This means something to someone. No wedding rings or holy symbols.”

“I… Alright,” Nott said, and she didn’t sound convinced at all; she sounded like she just wanted to get him off her case. Which, fair enough.

“These are traceable. You don’t want to get caught with something someone would recognize,” Molly added, trying for a different angle.

Nott nodded, but her expression was blank. She didn’t care about what she was stealing. She just liked shiny things, and Molly knew it; he’d seen her take a handful of ball bearings for no actual reason.

Mollymauk sighed. “I’ll give this back. Where’s Caleb?”

Nott blinked and looked around. “He was… Oh, he was just there. I think he went to bed, he looked tired.”

She sounded sad, and a little bit scared. She knew something was off, but probably not what it was or what to do about it.

“You should go to bed, too. It will keep you out of trouble,” Molly said, rolling the stolen ring across their knuckles like a coin trick.

“But -”

“I think he’d like you to be there,” Molly added, looking intently at her.

“... Would he?” Nott peered at them with big, unsure eyes.

“I think so. You can always ask him if he wants some company or not. If he wants to talk or not. That’s only polite.”

Molly was dancing around what they actually wanted to say, but they thought it might have been a good decision when they saw Nott’s look of determination. She had probably needed to be given simple instructions after all. She _was_ still a kid.

“He loves you,” Molly assured her. Then they promptly shook themself off the sappy honesty. “Now go away before you get us all in trouble and we end up in jail again. I like not having to pay for my drinks.”

Nott seemed confused for a second at the sudden change in their attitude, but then she smiled shyly, her many sharp and crooked teeth poking out in what most people would consider a threatening way. Molly ruffled her hair and went back to the party.

They picked up a flagon from a table and went to get a refill as they’d intended before they’d gotten distracted by Nott’s skulking.

“Oh, hey, there’s a ring here. Anyone knows who this belongs to?” they said loudly, flashing the ring they’d taken from Nott to the group of people around them.

Mollymauk stayed until the party died out and the rest of their group had long since gone to bed — even Jester, who’d passed out on a table for a bit and later woken up by loud laughter. She’d left after that, yawning wide enough to make her jaw pop and rubbing her eyes.

When Mollymauk stumbled up the stairs, everyone else was asleep in their crowded little room. They were still sharing the one room, because there weren’t any others available, not even for the saviors of Alfield. The destruction the gnolls had caused would be felt for a long time.

The smell hit Molly like a slap. None of them had bathed after their battle and they’d all been drinking for a while and it was evident just by the stench of sweat and blood and booze; the air of the room was warm and stuffy. They headed for the window, doing their best not to step on anyone on their way, and failing.

“The hell?” Beau muttered after Molly tripped on her feet. She lifted her head and looked around with a scowl.

“It stinks in here,” Molly replied, a tad louder than he’d meant.

“I know, but the window’s stuck. You’ll get used to it.”

Molly pulled on the window anyway, but it didn’t budge. They glared at it, swaying on their feet, but eventually gave up. When they turned around, they saw Beau had lowered her head again and rolled over to her other side. She was sleeping on the floor again. Above her, on the bed, Nott was curled against Caleb’s chest, her breathing whistling softly between her teeth and her mouth slightly parted. She was drooling on Caleb’s shirt, not that it would be too evident in the morning among the many other stains that covered Caleb’s dirty clothing.

But Caleb, he was awake. His eyes were open and fixed in a point on the wall over Nott’s head. Molly did a double take: Caleb looked dead to them for a second, with only his shallow breathing proving otherwise. Then Molly remembered humans couldn’t see in the dark. He probably thought Molly couldn’t see him, or maybe he hadn’t even noticed their presence.

Mollymauk looked around for a place to lie down. The bed was full and there was some free space near Beau’s feet, but he didn’t look forward to be kicked in his sleep again. The only other place was at the foot of the bed, cutting all access in and out of the room. He’d probably be woken up as soon as anyone got up, but it was still better than being kicked.

Molly took off their dazzling coat and bundled it up to make a pillow. Before they lay down, though, they looked at Caleb again to see if he was still awake, and when they saw that he was, Molly patted in his ankle softly.

Caleb startled and turned wide eyes in his direction, and a small part of Molly wondered how they’d appear to Caleb: a red-eyed, horned creature looming over his feet in the dark. Or maybe Caleb couldn’t see anything at all; Molly could never tell how much or how little humans could see in low light.

“Hey,” Molly whispered as quietly as he could. “We’re here. Sleep.”

Caleb blinked, and he either could see _something,_ or he followed the direction of Molly’s voice, but he was looking at his face. Molly smirked, only because smirks came more naturally to him than smiles, and then wondered if Caleb could even see it.

Molly lay down on the floor with a small clatter. They’d completely forgotten their swords were still hanging from their belt. Molly fumbled for a second, unbuckled their belt and pushed the sheathed swords under the bed, far enough away that they wouldn’t roll into them in their sleep but close enough to take in an emergency.

He heard Caleb sigh deeply, and then nothing else. Molly buried his face in his coat and did his best to fall asleep.

* * *

Molly was the last to wake up the following day. He’d crawled on the bed after Fjord had gotten up and slept on it for a couple more hours, but it still had been a shitty night.

Everyone else was down at the tavern when Molly made his way downstairs, and all of them —except Jester— looked tired and hungover. Jester looked the same as always. Maybe Molly should consider worshiping the Traveler... unless it was just Jester being Jester.

“You’re all wonderful people,” Molly said loudly as they joined the table, “but let’s never do that again. All of us sharing one bedroom, I mean. Thank the gods Yasha isn’t here, or that would have been fun.”

“I think it’s hardly in our hands to keep this from happening again,” Fjord pointed out.

“Well, next time I’m sleeping in the cart. Wouldn’t be the first time.”

“Sleeping with horses, you mean?” Beau said.

Fjord snorted. Jester let out a clear laugh.

Molly shook his head and smirked at her. “That was cheap.”

Beau shrugged. “Yeah, didn’t sleep so well either.”

See? They had fun.

Caleb and Nott were sitting at the end of the tables they’d pushed together. Nott was cradling one of her stolen treasures and Caleb had his nose buried in a book — a sight familiar enough to be surprisingly reassuring. But on closer examination, his eyes weren’t moving as quickly as they usually did and one of his legs kept bouncing up and down. He was on edge still.

When Molly went to get themself something for breakfast, Fjord signaled them to wait.

“The food is fucking gross,” Fjord said in an undertone. “Something Jester did, I think.”

“Ah,” Molly muttered. He wasn’t sure why he was surprised.

“Don’t get anything with sugar on it, is my suggestion.”

Molly nodded at Fjord. “Thanks.” He didn’t plan on ordering any sweets, anyway, but he appreciated the warning.

As he ordered, Molly had the sudden thought maybe Fjord was also pulling a prank on him, telling him that the sweets were bad when in fact it was the savory foods or something. But when Molly glanced at the table, they saw a few untouched muffins and empty plates of stew and bread, so they decided to risk it.

Mollymauk tasted the stew right after it was handed to him and found it alright. Not delicious, but not horrible either, so he took it back to the table and tipped his head at Fjord again.

Molly ate it without much enjoyment, and it didn’t have much to do with the quality of the food.  Their stomach was somewhat protesting the excess of alcohol, but it was stable enough and they had to eat if they were going to leave the town soon.

They’d just started digging in when Caleb closed his book. “I, uh, I would like to take an hour to get my cat back.”

“To do the ritual you need to do?” Fjord asked, and he could actually make that question sound gentle with his usual soothing voice.

“Ah, yes. It’s the same one I used to change his shape into a bird.” Caleb put away his book somewhere under his coat and stood up. He looked down at Nott and opened his mouth, but then he only mumbled a few sounds without forming any actual words.

“You want some company?” Nott said.

Caleb smiled. “Yes, please.” Nott stood up too. “We will be back in an hour.”

“We won't leave without you two, don't you worry,” Fjord assured him.

When Nott passed by his side, Molly tugged on her sleeve to get her attention.

“Hey,” he said, and gave her a meaningful look.

Caleb stopped walking and looked at them. Nott looked back at Mollymauk blankly; she didn't seem to get what he was trying to say at all.

Mollymauk thought of several ways to say what they wanted to say, but all of them were too obvious and would raise questions. Nott kept waiting for him to say something, though, so in the end he just said: “Don't get in trouble.”

Nott nodded, still looking puzzled. “I won't.”

Molly let go of her sleeve and patted her arm. “Good lass.”

She still didn’t seem to get his meaning, but there wasn’t much else he could say right now. Molly could only let her go and do whatever she chose to and hope she didn’t screw up too badly.

Nott smiled a little, looking more nervous than anything, and turned to Caleb again, who waited until she was in front of him to leave the tavern. As they reached the door, Mollymauk thought they could hear Caleb asking Nott a question in a low voice, and they saw her shrug in return.

“Did she do something?” Fjord said, more a weary statement than a question.

Molly looked back at the table and found Fjord and Beau looking at him. Jester was cramming a sweet roll (that she’d bought somewhere else than this tavern, no doubt) in her mouth, but she turned her eyes to them after a moment as well.

Molly sat back on his chair. “Oh, you know. She was just planning to fleece every single gold piece out of you three and skip town. I was tempted to join in, but in the end decided nah.” Having so many eyes on them always made Mollymauk want to lie outrageously.

Beau rolled her eyes and Fjord hummed, unimpressed.

Jester gasped. “Really?”

Molly chuckled. “Nope.”

“I knew it! She likes me too much to want to steal from me,” Jester said with a grin.

Molly thought it was more likely Nott wasn’t stupid enough to try… but maybe that wasn’t the case. Just because he didn’t believe in Jester’s act for a second, that didn’t mean Nott hadn’t fallen for it.

“Yeah, probably,” they agreed nonetheless.

“But really, did she do something?” Beau pressed.

Molly waved a hand. “Nah. The usual. But I’d like these people to like us and not run us out the town with torches for once.”

“Did that happen to you in the circus?” Jester wondered.

“Less than you’d think, actually.”

* * *

Molly was returning the rented horse to its owner when he saw Caleb and Nott coming back from wherever they’d gone to do the ritual. Caleb had his cat perched on his shoulders, and Frumpkin looked the same as when they’d first met: orange fur and stripes. Caleb kept a hand buried in his fur, but he didn’t to be petting Frumpkin more than using him as an anchor point.

Nott was walking in front of them, and she looked too happy not to have stolen something shiny again. Molly hoped it hadn’t been anything that would be missed.

“Hey, the cat’s back,” Molly said with a lopsided smile.

Caleb’s hand tightened a little on Frumpkin’s fur, but he nodded. “Yes. I can always bring him back.” He didn’t quite make eye contact.

“Familiars are so cool,” Nott piped in with a grin. She was always in awe of Caleb’s skills, wasn’t she?

Molly reached out with a hand to scratch Frumpkin’s head, but Caleb recoiled. Molly quickly dropped his hand back down.

“Sorry. Glad he’s ok, though.” They chastised themself for getting into Caleb’s personal space like that; they just hadn’t thought it through.

Caleb shuffled his feet. “No, it’s... I’m — I’m sorry. Just a little jumpy today.”

The lie was glaringly obvious, both in his voice and the way he still hadn’t made eye contact. And it was hard to forget the way Caleb always stood as far away as he could from the battle, hugging walls, muttering to himself in terror. He was _always_ jumpy. And yet, he still fought; despite the fear he felt every time, he still fought. And Molly had seen him risk his life more than once in what must have been complete darkness to his eyes.

Caleb, making himself into a fire trap — one that that never went off, but still. Caleb, crouching in the tunnel, looking pale and shaking, and Molly had taken pity on him and stood in front of him to give him some cover. And only a few minutes later, Caleb standing up and walking forward in fury to strike the creature that had hurt Nott with a spell, breathing heavily but no longer cowering at the back of the group.

Yes, Caleb was always jumpy, but he was also brave as all hells in his own way.

“Sure, no problem,” Molly said casually, because they had no idea how to express any of that out loud. “We’re leaving soon, putting all this mess behind us.”

“Yes, that is good.” Caleb smiled and met his eyes at last, and there was tangible relief in his voice.

The drifter’s life had that going for it: it was easy to leave your problems behind if you were always on the move.

“We’re getting the wagon ready. I’ll be right back.” Molly pulled at the reins of the rented horse and kept leading it away.

Caleb and Nott moved aside to make way and kept going back to the rest of the group.

When they finally left Alfield, Caleb sat in the back of the wagon, and he was still quiet, but he also looked better just by having Frumpkin on his shoulders again. Nott sat at his feet, playing with a new bauble that Molly hadn’t seen yet. Thankfully, when they looked at it more closely, they found it to be half of a horseshoe, worn out by use and polished until it shined.

Meanwhile Mollymauk sat at the front of the wagon, keeping an eye on the road as he’d done so many times in his time with the circus. But try as he might, he couldn’t keep his attention from wandering in the direction of Caleb over and over throughout the rest of the day, keeping an eye on him.

They should stop it; Caleb was well enough now, and Molly wasn’t going to ask what had happened to have rattled him so badly, so there was no point in watching over him like this. But that moment of recognition was a hard thing to forget, and it was hard to pretend it hadn’t given Molly a soft spot for Caleb, at least for now. They'd met only a couple days ago, there was no way of telling if Molly would even like Caleb in a week, but for now he felt a common thread linking them together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will stray from canon, probably. I'm still undecided about how their relationship would look like in the end, but it's gonna turn more shippy.
> 
> Please leave a comment if you liked this!
> 
> You can find me on Tumblr.

**Author's Note:**

> Edit: my brain was mean to me and started writing basically a novel for this, but I know me and having the canon go on a completely different direction is gonna make me sad and discouraged (I mean, it made me a sad that this fic didn't even come close to what happened in canon). So, I think I'm gonna keep those ideas for myself and see if I can jimmy them later as the show goes on. Or maybe I'll just stick to writing missing scenes, idk. 
> 
> Still, thank all of you who subscribed to this because it means the world to me. Seeing the hits and subscriptions climb, and especially the comments for this made me very happy every time.
> 
> Please leave a comment if you liked this!
> 
> You can find me on Tumblr.


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